Her caramel eyes looked into his coal black ones.

"Don't go... Please." Tears spring to her eyes.

"You know I have to. Don't worry, you know I'll come back. I always do." His face showed a soft smile, full of hope and certainty. Unfortunately, his eyes betrayed him. She saw the fear, the pain of all his uncertainty; all of it.

"As Hokage, I order you to drop this mission." Her voice was strong as always but, knowing her eyes would betray her; just as his did, she closed them. The cool night breeze lightly danced through her hair.

He sighs, staring at her; "I'll make you a bet." This causes her eyes to snap open.

"I'll bet you, that I'll come back alive. And when I do, I'll stop doing my research at the hot spring. I promise." He gives her a confident smirk.

Biting her lip and closing her eyes, she thinks it over. She decides she'll accept it. That is until a sharp pain shoots through her head. She clutches her head as the man she's loved for quite sometime now puts his hand on her shoulder.

"Tsunade! Are you okay?" Worry flashing in the white haired man's eyes.

Tsunade glances at him before closing her eyes. She couldn't answer her friend. She parted her mouth a little, attempting to answer him. A voice in her mind stopped her. Her caramel eyes snapped open, staring at the ground as she heard it. Its was him. Dan.

As her breath became ragged, her friend became more worried. He began rethinking his decision about this mission. Tsunade closed her eyes again, hearing Dan's voice again. "Don't let him go Tsunade. Don't. We both know you love him.. I know you loved me and that you still do but, you need to move on. I can't let you accept his bet. It will cause more pain and sorrow than good it'll do. What he achieves is something that can be done another way. You will figure it out soon. Just.. Please Tsunade, don't give in. Stay Strong. And always remember, *smiles and kisses her forehead* I love you, Tsunade Senju. Goodbye Tsunade.."

Almost immediately, the pain went away and Tsunade slowly blinks her eyes open, "Tsunade! What happened? Are you okay?" Tsunade stares at her old friend, assessing her situation in a new light.

Staring in his eyes, Tsunade replies "I'm sorry Jiraiya. But no matter what you wager, I refuse to accept you bet. You will not change my mind and will not be going on this mission. There is another way.. I just know it."

Jiraiya stares at her, slightly surprised by her answer. In return, Jiraiya simply smiles and pulls her into a hug, "Okay Tsunade... I won't go." Tsunade smiles, slowly wrapping her arms around Jiraiya.

"Thank you, Jiraiya.." She whispered back.

After sharing a warm embrace, they slowly walked away and linked arms as they walked down the street among the civilians and shinobi bustling about.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

What'd ya think? It kinda just came to me one day when I was in class and I just kinda went with it :p

Comment

Vote

Fan

Etc. :3